MOUNT PLEASANT - Ashford University scored nine runs over the fourth and fifth innings to blow the game open and cruise to a 13-2 win over the Iowa Wesleyan College baseball team Sunday afternoon.

The Saints won the final game of the three-game weekend series, shelling Tiger pitching for 15 hits. IWC took two of three in the series and is now 16-14 overall and 5-2 in Midwest Collegiate Conference play.

The big blow for Ashford (12-19 overall, 4-4 MCC) came in the fourth inning when Mike Johnson hit a grand slam home run against reliever Edgar Silva (Jr.-Joliet, Ill.) to open up a 7-0 lead for the Saints. Ashford would add one more run in the fifth and then scored four more times in the sixth to take a 12-0 lead.

Darryl Sexton (Jr.-Clinton, Iowa) took the loss, pitching four-plus innings and allowing five runs and six hits while walking four. All four Tiger pitchers struggled with control, allowing nine walks and hitting three batters while striking out just two. Vincent Cambruzzi (Jr.-Oakville, Ontario, Canada) had the most success of the four Wesleyan throwers, pitching two shutout innings and allowing one hit while striking out one.

The IWC bats also struggled all day against Saints starter Ty Funke. Funke came into the game with a 10.50 earned run average, but he shut out the Tigers over seven innings, scattering seven hits and striking out four while walking none.

Ryan Doeppel (Jr.-Arcadia, Calif.) paced Wesleyan at the plate with three hits, including a pair of doubles. Neil Yemm (Sr.-Bartonville, Ill.) and Bobby Lloyd (Sr.-Coalinga, Calif.) both added two hits each.

Steve Atkinson (Sr.-Chicago, Ill.) and Nathan Strusz (Jr.-North Aurora, Ill.) both came on as replacements in the late innings and drove in the Tigers' two runs in the ninth inning. Atkinson singled to score Doeppel, while Strusz hit a sacrifice fly to score Ryan Daniels (Jr.-Duarte, Calif.), who came on as a pinch runner for Atkinson.

R.J. Roberts led Ashford with four hits in the game. Johnson had two hits and scored three times and Gary Mayberry also had two hits and four RBIs, including a two-run homer in the third inning to give the Saints a 3-0 lead.

Iowa Wesleyan is back in action at home Tuesday to face William Penn University in another MCC single nine-inning game. Game time will be 4 p.m. at the Mapleleaf Athletic Complex.